


Fake Champagne

by DarkPhoenix101



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: The Problem of Susan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 06:15:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30034329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkPhoenix101/pseuds/DarkPhoenix101
Summary: Lucy attends one of Susan's parties and wishes she hadn't
Kudos: 6





	Fake Champagne

Fake Champagne

Disclaimer: The Chronicles of Narnia are the creation of C.S. Lewis. I own only the plot.

When she later reflected on the events of that evening, Lucy realised she should have known everything would go wrong right from the start. Of course it had probably been a mistake to come to one of Susan’s parties in the first place, but her sister could be very persistent and had pestered Lucy with repeated invitations, until she had finally agreed just for the sake of peace.

She had barely set foot inside the door when Susan bustled over to her, brimming with enthusiasm.

“Lucy! It’s wonderful to see you here at last!”

The two girls embraced briefly and then Susan drew back and studied her sister carefully.

“You look lovely,” she said at last. “You know I still haven’t got used to seeing you wearing make up.” Susan smiled a little wistfully. “You’ve grown up so much in the last year.”

This observation rather irritated Lucy. As if she hadn’t already grown up in Narnia! And even here in England Lucy actually thought herself much more mature than her frivolous sister, despite being three years younger. But she knew better than to say either of those things out loud.

“I think there’s a bit more to being grown up than just wearing lipstick,” she remarked tersely.

“Well yes, I suppose so.” Susan agreed, although she looked dubious.

Taking a cigarette case from her clutch bag, Susan opened it and extracted a cigarette, then proffered it to Lucy.

“Cigarette, Lu?”

Lucy shook her head. “Not just now, thank you.”

“Well you must try the champagne at least,” Susan insisted as she lit her cigarette. Taking Lucy’s arm she guided her into a large room where several people were gathered in small groups. “It’s delicious!”

Once again Lucy demurred. “I think I’d prefer something without alcohol, actually,” she said firmly. “Is there any lemonade?”

“Oh for goodness sake!” Susan now looked thoroughly exasperated. “Just when I think you’re finally growing up you start behaving like a child again. Can’t you at least not embarrass me by trying to act like an adult?”

Lucy sighed and had to restrain herself from making a sharp retort. It wasn’t that she disliked champagne; in fact she rather liked it although she had only tasted it on a couple of occasions. She just wanted to keep a clear head tonight; some of Susan’s friends had a reputation for being rather wild. But she didn’t think the issue was worth starting a quarrel with her sister.

“All right,” she agreed. “I suppose one glass won’t hurt.”

“Thank heavens!” Susan muttered. “Come on then!”

She swept towards the far end of the room with Lucy following her, feeling more than a little annoyed. She found her sister’s attitude baffling. She did like champagne but she still liked lemonade too, and saw no reason to prefer one to the other just because one was considered ‘adult’ and the other ‘childish.’ Why substitute one pleasure for another when you could have two pleasures instead of one? In Lucy’s opinion, growing up should be a process of growth and enrichment, not the wholesale replacement of one set of interests by another.

There was a table with filled champagne glasses already set out, and Lucy noticed with irritation that the wine was being served in wide shallow bowled coupes, rather than flutes. They were hardly the ideal glasses for any sparkling wine, as the effervescence would be lost too quickly, but she knew it was the style of champagne glass favoured by people who actually knew little about wine but wanted a special fuss to be made.

“Here you are,” Susan said, handing Lucy a glass. “Cheers!”

“Cheers!” Lucy responded as she took as sip. She frowned, and then took another.

“Are you sure this is actually champagne?”

“Of course!” Susan looked surprised at the question. “What else could it be?”

Lucy did not reply. Raising the glass to her lips, she took a generous mouthful, rather than a small sip, swirling the effervescent liquid around her teeth and gums as she carefully analysed the flavour.

Lucy had only had champagne on a couple of occasions but she never forgot the taste of a wine. In Narnia she had been something of a connoisseur and had been widely regarded as having the most discerning palate of anyone at the Narnian Court.

The ‘champagne’ she tasted now had none of the crisp biscuity flavour she associated with that famous wine. There were hints of an aromatic character, but any interesting flavours the wine might have possessed were almost smothered by the harsh tang of citrus. Limited as her experience was with the wines of her own world, Lucy was sure this was not champagne at all just cheap sparkling wine, probably from some region with an excessively hot climate like Australia or North Africa.

Glancing at her sister, Lucy wondered why she hadn’t noticed. Susan was now conversing with a young man and sipping her drink with apparent enjoyment. Then like a thunderbolt the truth struck her. Susan just didn’t care. She didn’t care that the wine she was drinking tasted little better than cat’s pee. All that mattered to her was that it was called champagne and looked like champagne and was served it what she supposed were proper champagne glasses. The actual taste of the wine was irrelevant; all Susan cared about was the aura of sophistication she imagined it gave her, although in reality this was as fake as the champagne itself.

Lucy knew the other Friends of Narnia had long since given up on Susan, but she had always kept believing that her sister would eventually return to them. But now, with this latest example of Susan’s superficiality, that confidence was severely shaken and for the first time Lucy found herself seriously doubting that Susan would ever come to her senses.


End file.
